Cruising Schedule 2018
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Cruising Schedule 2018 Cruise Highlights Nights Start Date Price Somerton Deep Lock, The Heyfords, The River Wed 18th 1 Banbury Oxford 5 FULL Cherwell, Thrupp Turn, Oxford City April Oxford city, Thrupp Turn, Cherwell valley, Somerton Tue 24th 2 Oxford Warwick Deep Lock, Cropredy, The Summit, Napton Locks, 8 £920 Warwick April Warwick, Stockton Brook, Braunston, Blisworth Warwick Tring rd £1010 3 Tunnel, Stoke Bruerne, Marsworth. 9 Thu 3 May Bulls Bridge, Little Venice, Regents Park and Zoo, The Mon 14th £920 4 Tring Little Venice Bow Loop & Olympic Stadium, Limehouse Basin, 8 Waiting Paddington Arm May list only The Paddington Arm, Little Venice, Regents Park & th Little Thu 24 £920 Tring Zoo, Limehouse Basin, The Bow Loop and Olympic Waiting 5 Venice 8 Stadium, May list only Marsworth, Stoke Bruerne, Blisworth Tunnel, Watford Market Tring Locks, Crick Tunnel, The Leicester Branch summit, nd £820 6 Harborough 7 Sat 2 June Foxton Locks Foxton Staircase Locks, Crick Tunnel, Watford Locks, th Market Mon 11 Coventry Braunston Tunnel, Hill Morton paired locks, £820 7 Harborough 7 Hawkesbury Junction, Coventry Arm, June Coventry Arm, Hawkesbury Junction, Atherstone Tue 19th 8 Coventry Stoke 9 £1010 Locks, Fradley Junction, Stone, Meaford Flight June Etruria, The Caldon Canal, Leek Branch, Cheddleton Thu 28th 9 Stoke Stoke Flint Mill, Churnet Valley, Consall Forge, Froghall 7 £820 Tunnel and Wharf, June Harecastle Tunnel, The Cheshire Paired Locks, The 10 Stoke Northwich Flashes, The Anderton Boat Lift, The Length of the 8 Fri 6th July £920 River Weaver, The Anderton Boat Lift, Preston Brook Tunnel, Lymm, Mon 16th £920 11 Northwich Liverpool Barton Swing Aqueduct, Worsley, Liverpool Dock 8 Waiting Complex July list only Liverpool Dock Complex, Worsley, Barton Swing Wed 25th 12 Liverpool Northwich Aqueduct, Lymm, Preston Brook Tunnel, The Anderton 8 £920 Boat Lift, July The Anderton Boat Lift, The Flashes, Bunbury Staircase Fri 3rd 13 Northwich Chester Locks, Beeston, Chester city walls, Ellesmere Port 8 £920 Canal Museum August Chester city and walls, Beeston, Bunbury Staircase £920 Locks, Hurleston Junction, Grindley brook Staircase Mon 13th 14 Chester Llangollen 8 locks, Ellesmere, Chirk tunnel & Aqueduct, the August Waiting Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Llangollen list only Llangollen, The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Chirk Tunnel & Wed 22nd £920 15 Llangollen Nantwich Aqueduct, Frankton Locks, Ellesmere, Grindley Brook 8 Waiting Staircase Locks, Wrenbury, Hurleston Locks. Nantwich August list only Nantwich, Audlem, Norbury Junction, Wolverhampton Sat 1st 16 Nantwich Warwick 21 locks, Black Country Museum, The Old Main Line, 9 £1010 Gas Street Basin, Kingswood Junction, Hatton Locks September Saltisford Arm, Stockton Flight, Braunston, Hill Morton Fri 14th 17 Warwick Warwick Locks, Newbold Tunnel, Atherstone Locks, Knowle, 10 £1100 Hatton locks September Warwick, Hatton Locks, Kingswood Junction, Lapworth Tue 25th 18 Warwick Stratford Locks Forest of Arden, Wootton Wawen, Wilmcote, 6 £725 Stratford on Avon September Stratford on Avon, Wilmcote, Wootton Wawen, Forest of Arden, Kingswood Junction, Hatton Locks, Stockton Tue 2nd 19 Stratford Banbury 9 £1010 Brook, Napton, The South Oxford Canal summit, October Cropredy, www.bywaterhotelboats.co.uk [email protected] 07380 941 042 Choosing Your Cruise There is so much to see and so many possible routes on the inland waterways that it is understandably difficult to decide which particular cruise you think you would enjoy the most. In this booklet we try to outline the character of each route, its highlights and points of interest. It is impossible to cover everything, but we hope that combined with your own personal choice criteria (time of year, heritage, towns and cities etc.) you will be able to pick the one for you. If you have any queries regarding any aspect of the holiday please do not hesitate to call and we shall try and advise in any way we can. To aid you in your choice of cruise, we have marked them with these symbols. Historic Towns Cityscape Rural Idyll Museum Excellent Walking Industrial Heritage Lock Wheelers’ Paradise Arrival and departure With our schedules, we endeavour to include locations which have good travel connections as much as we can, although this is not possible on some canals. We also avoid weekend arrivals in locations where we feel there may be disturbance from town centres on first or last evenings. This also helps our guests to avoid engineering works on rail lines and to enable them to take advantage of cheaper weekday travel on public transport whenever possible. For those arriving by car we make every effort to try and arrange secure car parking facilities at many of our locations, and if we do not have a current secure location there are now websites which offer private spaces on driveways and other locations that make arranging parking even simpler than ever. We hope that, with these things in mind, your travel to or from your hotel boat cruise will be as easy and convenient as we can make it. Should you require any assistance in planning your travel, please don't hesitate to get in touch, we have easy access to timetables and are happy to advise wherever possible. Single supplements There is no single supplement for a single guest in a single cabin. Voluntary single occupancy of a twin/double cabin usually carries a supplement of 50%. although this may be reduced to 25% closer to the date of a cruise, if we can. Please see the booking form tick boxes for details and ensure you select this option if you’d like to be contacted about the opportunity to upgrade for this reduced supplement. www.bywaterhotelboats.co.uk [email protected] 07380 941 042 Cruise 1: Banbury to Oxford (27 miles, 16 narrow locks, 14 lift bridges) 5 nights starting on Wednesday 18th April 2018 Highlights South Oxford Canal, Somerton Deep Lock, Cherwell River and Valley, Thrupp, Spires of Oxford Rural, intermittent locks. A good introduction to the canals. Cruising from the historic market town of Banbury, we head through open farmland and quiet Cotswold countryside. One of the first to be built, this canal twists and turns, giving many opportunities for walking or helping us through the intermittent locks. We travel through a number of pretty Oxfordshire villages, never straying far from the river Lower Heyford Cherwell or the railway line. After passing the Rock of Gibraltar, we travel along the rivers for several miles, before joining the canal again to pass through Entering Thrupp the traditional boatman’s stop of Thrupp. We skirt Kidlington, Britain’s largest village, before reaching the woodlands and water meadows of the outskirts of Oxford. Passing through some of the wealthiest suburbs in the country, we see the spires of Oxford in the distance before reaching our destination at Hythe Bridge, the current terminus of the canal. Isis Lock at the End of the Oxford The Delights of Oxford! A lovely cruise through the Oxfordshire countryside, with the jewel of Oxford at the end of the line. Railway Station Parking Arrive – Banbury (5 min walk) There is supervised parking at Banbury rail Depart – Oxford (5 min walk) station. www.bywaterhotelboats.co.uk [email protected] 07380 941 042 Cruise 2: Oxford to Warwick (64 miles, 38 narrow locks, 25 broad locks, 1 aqueduct) 8 nights starting on Tuesday 24th April 2018 Highlights The Spires of Oxford, the Oxford Canal, Thrupp, Cherwell Valley, Somerton Deep Lock, Cropredy, the Oxford Summit, the Napton flight, the Grand Union Canal, the Stockton flight, Warwick. Rural, intermittent locks for the most part. Lovely time of year for the Grand Union We leave the terminus of the Oxford canal at Hythe Bridge Street. As we travel up the Cherwell Valley, we leave the spires of Oxford behind and move through some of the wealthiest suburbs in the country before we reach the woodlands and water meadows of the outskirts of Oxford. We skirt Kidlington, England’s largest village, before passing through the traditional boatman’s stop of Thrupp. Moving into the open countryside, we travel along the river for several miles before rejoining the canal at the Rock of Gibraltar pub. Heading north The Delights of Oxford! through rolling farmland and small villages, we share the valley with the river and the railway. After passing through the historic town of Banbury, we’re back in the Oxfordshire countryside. We pass through the pretty village of Cropredy before using the five locks at Claydon to rise up to the Oxford summit. The canal meanders now, following the contours of the land for many miles and providing us with long views Napton Hill across the landscape. After a tricky turn, we enter the first of the nine locks with Napton Hill and it’s windmill always visible on the horizon. We make our way around the hill and then take a left turn on to the deep and wide Grand Union canal. Flights at Calcut and Stockton allow us to show how a boating pair makes good use of the double locks on this canal. Finally, we pass below the old Roman Fosse Way and make our way back into town. We pass through the spa town of Leamington, before reaching our final destination in historic Warwick. Stockton Wide Lock The South Oxford Canal is our home territory and we think it’s one of the nicest windy windy bits of canal there is, and, trust us, you don’t get much more windy windy than the Summit of the South Oxford. A pre-cruise explore of the wonderful city of Oxford is highly recommended. Railway Station Parking Arrival – Oxford (5 min walk) Secure Parking is available at Warwick. Departure – Warwick Parkway or Warwick Town (5-10 mins by taxi) www.bywaterhotelboats.co.uk [email protected] 07380 941 042 Cruise 3: Warwick to Tring (77 miles, 70 wide locks, 2 tunnels, 5 aqueducts) 9 nights starting on Thursday 3rd May 2018 Highlights Warwick, Bascote staircase, Stockton flight, Napton Junction, Braunston Turn, Blisworth tunnel, National Waterways Museum, Ouzel Valley, the Chilterns, Marsworth junction, summit at Tring.